http://americancensorship.org/callwidget
Touch and Go
So I’m just finishing up a month of CTI (Corps Training Institute) and gearing up for my first SPIKE deployment. I’m driving 900+ miles to Marana, Arizona to work with the “Community Food Resource Center”, an organic farm about twenty minutes north of Tucson. We will work to improve community food security for the people of Pima County by promoting, demonstration, advocating for, and cooperatively building an equitable and regional food system , which supports food production and strengthens communities. I’ll be there for 5 weeks before I return to Denver, Colorado. That’s it for now, wish me luck!
To help fund me while I serve:
http://www.gofundme.com/HelpTravis
Mile High Livin’
I was recently accepted into the Americorps NCCC program. For those of you not quite so familiar with this, it’s commonly referred to as the domestic Peacecorps. I’m driving to Denver, our base, on October 11th and I’ll be working around the southwest region of the United States until my term of service ends in August of 2012.
I’m a little nervous to be perfectly transparent. I’m used to traveling and living somewhere that I don’t know anyone, however, I’ve never committed to a program this long. Service work is fulfilling but it’s tough work and you’re prone to become drained easily. And with next to no monetary gain to keep me kicking I’m wondering how I’ll hold up. I’m hoping that being submerged in disaster relief, urban development, wildlife firefighting etc. and seeing the devastation and the need for help will be my driving force when I’m tired.
An Americorps Firefighting Excursion
No doubt it will be an adventure: Meeting my team, my roommate, traveling across our region, being apart of something a little bigger, hopefully touching lives, living in Denver, networking, soul-searching… the list goes on. I am excited.
Not so excited about all the loose ends right now before I leave. Sometimes I feel like I should settle down for a while and “catch up” I guess; Get my car paid off, start a routine, maybe even go to school. I don’t know… I’m walking through open doors. I’m doing the best I know how. I hope God is steering this ship.
Unachievable Is Perfect
I’ve just finished “The Alchemist”. And I can’t get this idea out of my head…
As the boy and the crystal merchant are talking about dreams over lunch one day, the merchant reveals to the boy that he has had a dream since childhood to travel to the holy city of Mecca. The merchant is different from the boy, he says, because he doesn’t want to really realize his dream. It’s the thought of going to Mecca that keeps him alive, and he wants to keep it a dream. The dream helps him get through his days at the crystal shop.
This whole concept is why “the perfect wave” is “perfect” at all. If it were achievable it wouldn’t be quite so great.
In whatever you do, be content. Appreciate your dreams and chase folly today.
The Polls Are In!
Last March I put a poll up asking what you would like to see. Your options were trapeze, juggling knives, walking on hot coals and tight rope walking.
Well I know It’s late but the results are in. Juggling Knives!! So without further procrastination… The first picture. Video clips to follow…
Red Light, Green Light
I had settled down in Chattanooga, Tennessee for about ten or eleven 
months before I was so antsy I couldn’t stand it. I made life-long friends and memories I don’t think I’ll ever forget. We had good times: bottles and bottles of wine until the sun came up (and then waffle house), art galleries and backwoods cigars, road trips to see our favorite bands, liquor, liquor, liquor, fondue feasts after hours, and classic down south banjo music and porch-sitting with friends and ice-cold beer.
It was a phenomenal season of my life. Now, however, it’s time to make a move. Right now I’m in West Palm Beach, Florida eating blackened dolphin tacos and soaking up the sun at my favorite, Hobe Sound Beach. Surfing when the waves are good and dealing with the sunburn later with a bottle of wine. June 2nd starts another short chapter of my life. After a connecting flight in Chicago I arrive at my final destination, Minong, Wisconsin…almost Canada. Until my birthday on August 15th I’ll be a camp counselor at Swift Nature Camp. Okay, so not the most profound thing I’ve ever done but I’m excited to love on kids that need it and learn what I can from them as well. I think it will be at minimum, an interesting experience.
So for now that’s my life. I’ll let you know how the little brats are doing being under my supreme rule!!! mwahaha
